Glossary

A comprehensive guide to hidma-specific terminology and concepts.

A

Aged Receivables

A report showing outstanding client balances organized by how long they've been unpaid (e.g., current, 30 days, 60 days, 90+ days overdue). Helps track which clients have overdue payments.

API (hidma API)

A way for another system to read or update information in hidma without anyone logging in, for example to keep a client database in step with hidma. Access is given to an application owned by the firm, set up in Settings › API Access. Available on the Firm plan only, and currently in beta. See hidma API (beta).

Allocation

The process of applying a payment to one or more bills. See also: Standard Allocation, Partial Allocation, Quick Payment.

Approval

The process by which managers review and approve time entries before they can be billed. Organizations can configure whether time entry approval is required.

B

Bill

The primary billing document in hidma, also referred to as an invoice. Contains line items for time worked, charges, and discounts that will be sent to clients for payment. Can be generated as a standard invoice or as an RFP depending on organization settings.

Billable

Work that can be charged to a client. Time entries, charges, and expenses marked as "billable" can be included on bills. Non-billable work is tracked but not invoiced.

Billing Period

The date range covered by a bill, typically matching how frequently you invoice clients (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.).

C

Charge

An additional fee added to a bill beyond time entries. Examples include expenses, filing fees, administrative charges, or fixed service fees. Each charge has a type, amount, description, and optional tax rate.

Change History

The audit log kept on a record, showing who changed it, when, what action they took, where the change came from (hidma or an integration), and a description of what changed. Available on clients, client groups, projects, users, and individual bills. Also called an activity log. See Change History & Activity Logs.

Charge-Out Rate

The hourly rate or fixed price charged to clients for work - the rate that appears on bills and determines revenue. Can be configured at multiple levels: Default Rate, Team Rate, User Rate, or Project Rate. More specific rates override general ones. Contrast with Cost Rate, which is the internal cost of the work rather than what the client pays.

Client

An organization or individual who receives services and is billed for work. Clients can have multiple projects, custom rates, and billing preferences.

Client Group

A way to organize clients into categories (e.g., by industry, size, or service type) for easier management and reporting.

Client Portal User

A user role that provides limited access for clients to view their bills, make payments, and access account information without seeing internal operations.

Cost Rate

The hourly internal cost of a team member - what it actually costs your organization to have that person perform an hour of work (typically based on salary, benefits, and overhead). Cost rates are set per user on their profile and are never shown to clients. Unlike the Charge-Out Rate (what you bill the client), the cost rate is used internally to calculate profit margins and profitability. The difference between charge-out rate and cost rate is your gross margin on the work.

Custom Field

Additional data fields that organizations can add to clients, projects, time entries, bills, or other records. Can be text, numbers, dates, dropdowns, or saved data references.

D

Dashboard

Overview screens showing key figures and summaries. The main Dashboard page has up to three tabs, depending on your permissions: My Dashboard, My Team for team managers and Entire Firm for partners and directors. Clients and projects also have their own dashboards. See Management Dashboards.

Deadline

A date by which something must be done, such as a VAT return or an annual return. A deadline can be for a client, a project, a team, one user or the whole firm, can repeat, and can be marked done or waived. See Deadlines.

Default Rate

The system-wide fallback charge-out rate used when no more specific rate (project, user, or team) is configured.

Default Due Date

An option on recurring bills, bill templates, and recurring bill templates that makes generated bills inherit the organisation's configured payment terms rather than a fixed date entered on the setup. Change the organisation's terms and everything set to Default Due Date follows. The alternative is a Custom Due Date - a set number of days, weeks, or months after the invoice date.

Discount

A reduction applied to a bill, either as a fixed amount or percentage. Can be applied to entire bills or specific line items.

Document Numbering

The system for assigning sequential numbers to bills, receipts, credit notes, and other documents. Can be configured to use simple sequential numbers or incorporate client codes.

Document Templates

Customizable layouts for bills, receipts, statements, and credit notes. Organizations can upload logos, set colors, and configure what information appears on documents.

Dynamic Placeholder

A token written in square brackets that hidma resolves at the moment a record is generated, rather than storing as literal text. Used in recurring project name and code patterns ([Month], [YY], [Seq:4]), in recurring deadline names, in bill row titles on recurring bills, bill templates, and bills added within a project ([Quarter], [Year - 1], [ProjectName]), and in charge titles. See also: Recurring Project, Sequence Placeholder.

E

External Code

An identifier field on bills that can reference external systems or client purchase order numbers. Useful for integration and tracking purposes.

H

HR Manager

A system role with permissions to manage users and teams across the organization without requiring full Super User access. Cannot access billing or financial data.

J

Job

A specific task or work type within a project. Time is always recorded to jobs, not directly to projects. Examples: "Federal Tax Return", "Quarterly Review", "Contract Review". Jobs can have custom rates, budgets, and deadlines.

P

Partial Allocation

A payment allocation method that allows you to allocate payments to specific line items (rows) on bills rather than to entire bills. Provides granular control when clients pay for some services but not others.

Project

A major engagement or work container for a client. Projects contain multiple jobs, have start/end dates, and can have custom rates and budgets. Examples: "2024 Tax Services", "Smith Estate Planning", "ABC Corp Audit".

Project Rate

A charge-out rate set specifically for a project, overriding user, team, and default rates. This is the highest priority rate in the hierarchy.

Project Template

A reusable project structure that defines standard jobs, settings, and configurations. When creating a new project, you can apply a template to avoid manually setting up common job structures. Templates also carry a Default Team, a Default Organisation, budgets and budget notifications, and the bills, recurring bills, and charges to create on every project made from them.

Pro Forma Invoice

See RFP (Request for Payment).

Q

Quick Payment

A streamlined payment method that combines recording a payment and allocating it to a single bill in one action. Best used when clients pay bills in full.

R

Rate Hierarchy

The priority order hidma uses to determine which charge-out rate applies: Project Rate > User Rate > Team Rate > Default Rate. The most specific rate always wins.

Realisation

The amount billed divided by the standard value of the time billed (valued at charge-out rates, or cost rates where no charge-out rate exists). A realisation below 100% means time was written down when billed. See the Realisation Reports.

Receipt

A document generated after payment is received and allocated, confirming what was paid and which bills it was applied to.

Recovery Rate

How much was billed compared with the value of the time at standard charge-out rates. A recovery rate below 100% means some time was written off or billed at a discount. Shown on the Entire Firm dashboard.

Recurring Charge

A fixed fee configured on a client or project profile that represents regular charges (e.g., monthly retainer, annual license). Unlike one-time charges, recurring charges are tracked as ongoing but must be manually added to bills when billing for them.

Recurring Project

A project configured to regenerate itself on a schedule. The Recurring Setup is the blueprint - it holds the schedule and the name/code patterns but tracks no time and accumulates no statistics. Each time the schedule fires, hidma creates an Instance: a normal, fully functional project with its placeholders resolved. See also: Dynamic Placeholder.

Request for Payment (RFP)

Also called a Pro Forma Invoice. A preliminary billing document that requests payment but is not a legally binding invoice. When RFP mode is enabled in billing settings, all bills generated are RFPs. After a client pays an RFP in hidma, the system automatically creates an official invoice. Commonly used by legal firms who prefer a two-step billing process.

Role

A named set of permissions assigned to a user that controls what they can see and do in hidma. Every user must have at least one role, or their account exists but cannot perform any actions. Roles come in two types - System Roles that apply across the whole organization (e.g. Super User, HR Manager) and Team Roles that apply only within a specific team (e.g. Team Manager, Team Member, Viewer). A role only controls access; it is separate from a user's Charge-Out Rate or Cost Rate, which govern billing and cost rather than what the user can do. See also: System Role, Team Role.

S

Saved Data Field

A type of custom field that references existing hidma data (users, clients, teams, etc.) rather than requiring manual entry. For example, a "Reviewing Attorney" saved data field on a project could reference a user from your organization.

Sequence Placeholder

A dynamic placeholder that assigns an incrementing number to each generated record, used mainly in recurring project codes. [Seq:padding] pads the number to the given width starting from 1; [Seq:padding:startFrom] does the same but begins counting at the number you specify. For example [Seq:4] produces 0001, 0002, and so on.

Standard Allocation

A flexible payment allocation method where you first record the payment, then allocate it across one or more bills in any amounts. Used when payments need to be split across multiple bills or when partial payments are made.

Super User

The highest-level system role with complete access to all hidma features and data across the entire organization. Can configure settings, manage users and teams, access all billing and financial data, and perform any operation.

System Role

Organization-wide user roles that grant permissions regardless of team assignment. Includes Super User and HR Manager. Contrasts with Team Roles which are team-specific.

T

Tax Rate

A percentage tax (GST, VAT, sales tax, etc.) that can be applied to charges and fees on bills. Organizations can configure multiple tax rates and set defaults for different charge types.

Team

A group of users who work together and share access to clients and projects. Teams enable access control and organizational structure. Users can belong to multiple teams.

Team Manager

A team role that grants management permissions within a specific team. Team Managers can create and manage projects, assign work, view team members' time entries, approve timesheets, and create bills for their team's work.

Team Member

The standard team role for users who do billable work. Team Members can record time, manage their own entries, and view team projects and clients. Cannot manage projects or create bills unless given additional permissions.

Team Rate

A default charge-out rate set for an entire team. Applies to all team members unless overridden by a user-specific or project-specific rate.

Time Entry

A record of time spent working on a specific job for a client. Contains the date, duration (hours), client, project, job, description of work, and whether it's billable. Time entries are the primary source of billable work that appears on bills.

Timesheet

A collection of time entries, typically viewed by week or month. Users enter and manage their time through the timesheet interface.

U

Unbilled

Work that has been completed and recorded but not yet included on a bill. The WIP report shows unbilled time and charges.

User Rate

A charge-out rate set specifically for an individual user, overriding team and default rates but subordinate to project rates. Reflects that specific user's billing value.

Utilisation

The proportion of a user's or team's available capacity spent on billable work, calculated as billable hours ÷ net capacity (gross capacity less personal hours). Measured against a target derived from the annual business hours goal on each user's profile. See the Billable Utilisation Report.

W

WIP (Work in Progress)

Unbilled work that has been completed but not yet invoiced. The Client WIP report shows all time entries and charges that are ready to be billed but haven't been included on a bill yet. Also referred to as "unbilled work" or "work in progress."

Related Resources

• FAQ - Common questions and answers
• Troubleshooting - Solutions to common problems
• Settings & Configuration - Detailed configuration guides